relocation-planner

name

relocation-planner

description

Plan a move — across town or across a border — as a dependency-ordered project: the lease/housing chain, address-change cascade, utilities cutover, movers, and the go-bag for the gap days. Use when asked help me plan my move, relocation checklist, I'm moving in six weeks what do I do, or moving to another country logistics. Produces the dependency-ordered timeline, the address-change cascade list, the cutover schedule for both homes, and the moving-day run sheet.

Relocation Planner Skill

Moves fail on dependencies, not effort: the lease that had to be signed before the movers could be booked, the internet install with a three-week lead time discovered at T-2 days, the driver's license that needed the lease as proof of address which needed the job letter. This skill treats the move as the dependency graph it is — longest lead times surface first — and plans the unglamorous middle: two homes' worth of utilities, a cascade of address changes, and the gap days when your life is in boxes.

What This Skill Produces

• The dependency-ordered timeline — worked backwards from move date, longest-lead items first
• The address-change cascade — government, financial, subscriptions, people — in the order that unblocks the rest
• The dual-home cutover schedule — what turns off where and when, with the overlap paid for on purpose
• The moving-day run sheet + go-bag list — the day as a script, and the bag that means boxes can be late without crisis

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• From → to (same city / domestic / international — the graph changes shape) and move date (fixed or flexible)
• Housing status both ends — owned/leased, secured or still hunting; an unsecured destination is the critical path, full stop
• Household inventory scale — studio vs 4-bedroom vs "sell everything"; pets, plants, vehicles, kids' schools
• For international: visa/work-permit status — it gates everything and belongs to a lawyer, not this checklist

Framework: The Dependency Rules

1. Walk the graph backwards: movers need a date, the date needs the lease, the lease may need employment proof — find the longest chain and start it today.
2. Lead-time items are landmines: internet installs, visa appointments, school enrollment windows, vehicle registration slots — book at T-max, not when convenient.
3. Pay for overlap: 2–7 days of double occupancy converts the move from a cliff into a ramp; cleaning, repairs, and the forgotten drawer all need the old keys.
4. The cascade has an order: government ID/registration first (it's proof for the rest), then financial (banks, employer payroll), then the subscription long tail (mail forwarding catches strays for months).
5. The go-bag is the insurance policy: documents, medications, chargers, days of clothes, kids'/pets' essentials — packed as if the truck will be a week late, because sometimes it is.

Output Format

Relocation Plan: [from] → [to], [date]

Critical Path

[The longest dependency chain, as a sentence: X blocks Y blocks Z — start X now.]

Timeline (backwards from move day)

T-8 weeks: … T-4: … T-2: … T-1 week: …

Address-Change Cascade

1. Government/ID (proof for the rest) → 2. Financial/payroll → 3. Everything else + mail forwarding

Cutover Schedule

Service	Old home off	New home on	Overlap?

Moving Day Run Sheet + Go-Bag

[Hour-by-hour script · the bag contents]

International moves: visa, tax residency, and import rules are jurisdiction-specific and change — verify with official sources or professionals; this plan sequences the logistics around them.

Quality Checks

• Critical path named explicitly, and it starts now
• Every lead-time item booked at maximum lead, not at convenience
• Overlap days budgeted deliberately (or their absence acknowledged as accepted risk)
• Cascade ordered by what-proves-what, mail forwarding included
• Go-bag assumes the truck is late

Anti-Patterns

• Do not sort by category (all utilities together) — sort by deadline and dependency
• Do not let packing dominate the plan — packing is effort, not risk; dependencies are risk
• Do not schedule the internet install after arrival — it has the longest consumer lead time of anything in the move
• Do not treat an unsecured destination home as one item on the list — it IS the list until resolved
• Do not give visa or tax-residency advice — sequence around it and route it to professionals